Snailbites

Appetites

February 7, 2008 – 1:18 am

Obesity is a huge problem in the United States.  We are the Fast Food nation.  Home of McDonalds and the birthplace of the hamburger.  With video games dominating the social landscape of kids and teens these days, and the media reporting non-stop heinous crimes to keep us indoors, its no wonder that we are all increasingly overweight.

According to the CDC, in 2006, only four states had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Twenty-two states had a prevalence equal or greater than 25%; two of these states (Mississippi and West Virginia) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%.

Our appetites in America are out of control. An insatiable appetite is a trademark of our culture.  And it’s not just for food… We have huge appetites for products.  We have huge appetites for sex.  We have huge appetites for information.  Some things can be good, but some can also be very bad. 

Media loves to whet our appetites and entice us to consume more of these things. The Kaiser Family Foundation has found that 70 percent of all shows on television included some sexual content, averaging about five sex scenes per hour, not including commercials.  That’s about a sexual experience every 10 minutes.  

Couple that with the average of 4 hours and 35 minutes that a typical American spends in front of the tube .  Add to that the 21 food advertisements that an average child views each day and countless car, beer, and product commercials that come along with it and you’ll see just how much we are enticed by our society.  Nielson Media Research themselves, the good people who measure our television viewing statistics, actually term our viewing as the “consumption” of media!   

America loves to consume, and our media loves to feed.

Lent is a time when we fast and abstain.  The notion of fasting is so important, yet so often misunderstood.  Yes, it’s about sacrifice and self-denial, and no its not about dieting.  But to me its more about discipline.  We learn to curb our appetites - our food appetites, our materialistic appetites, or the appetites of our eyes…

Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life.  Scripture tells us that all who come to Him shall not hunger.  And while we do go hungry physically at times, if we are rooted in Christ, then we shall not want.  In other words, our appetite remains satisfied.  Think about that as you go through these next 40 days.  Lent can be a very powerful experience if you make the commitment to go through the desert.

So curb your appetite - whether its food, shoes, electronics, negativity, gossip… those things are like Chinese buffets.  They’ll fill you up for the moment, but a few hours later you’ll be searching for something else to eat. 

Snailbites wishes you a happy and holy Ash Wednesday and Lenten season.  For accountability’s sake, here are my fasts, in no particular order:

• No fast food.
• Always put things back from where you got them (keeping things clean)
• My only internet will be Snailbites and related projects (anything else leads to laziness and online shopping).
• Re-focus on prayer time - rosaries, daily mass and meditation, and praying with others.

Feel free to post your fasts as well.  Keep me accountable and I will with you!